Today Bright Pink Smile is being relaunched to minimal fanfare. I have been working on this project for nearly a month, familiarizing myself with Dreamweaver's CC 2014 fluid grid system. Now that I can create a gorgeous and functional fixed-width website with my eyes nearly closed, I have thrown myself back into the seemingly bottomless pit of software recalcitrance. This is the Cloud that rains on already soaking wet days.

I have to learn this stuff, because one of my steady gigs is as an online teacher of web design. Another one of my gigs is as the graphic and web designer with a sub-department of a local university, and that sub-department desperately needs an upated website. Therefore, I made this formerly outdated website of mine into a fluid and responsive site for some practical practice in the field.

The things artists do to make a living... The lucky ones among us get to use our creative skillset in the process. I have all these various bits and pieces that I do, all somehow inter-related to each other. And yet... it's still not enough. Most artists I know do the same, feel the same, are experiencing the same.

I have begun auditing an online course in Social Media Marketing. There is sooooo much to do, so many things to pay attention to, so much to be present for... and between all that and time needed to work at something or other to pay the bills, because let's not kid ourselves, there is much less of the middle-class who is able to buy artwork than there has been in decades... so friggin' much to do, where is the time to get seriously and wonderfully lost for hours on end in the studio? It often seems as though we are chasing that one ellusive rabbit down the proverbial rabbit hole. And it's dark and muddy down there.

Okay. Rant over. The painting image in this post is called "Loosely Scattered". You can see a larger version here. I hope you enjoy this updated blog. It's going to be a work-in-progress for awhile.

I don’t cartoon. It’s been eons since I’ve tried drawing a caricature of any kind. It is a special talent, and one I greatly admire. I love political cartoons. The best combine top drawing skills with keen observation and sharp wit. I could peruse them for hours.

We all know the sad news, the bad news, the chilling news out of Paris. Do we now self-censor? The twin forces of extreme religious fundamentalism and corporate greed would have us police our own thoughts and resulting creativity out of fear. They keep trying.

But that’s not going to happen. Artists and writers will keep on observing and perceiving the world around them. We always have. We always will. We cannot help it anymore than we can consciouly stop breathing. The gears of creative expression will always keep turning.

If the gods are not easily offended, then why are people? The human mind is capable of understanding what satire is. The human mind is capable of knowing right from wrong, and how to go about pursuing justice against that which might be found offensive, if there really is a call for it. Sometimes the satire is appropriate for the culture in which it was created. Sometimes there is a backstory.

Many of us are in a deep freeze this week, while Alaska unseasonably melts. Wisconsin was where they planted the seeds off the Occupy movement a few years back. Frozen Wisconsin also birthed the Overpass Light Brigade, bringing light into intellectual darkness, one letter of the alphabet at a time. The other night, those same alphabetical lights showed up in Paris. The other night, millions of people around the globe showed up to become a force for creative freedom.